Hearthpwn

Hi everyone, I have obtained Legend rank on NA for at least 10 seasons (I didn't really count). If you are looking for a deck that can punish shaman (and sometimes zoolock; you know you can't win them all) but also able to beat control matchups, this deck has a high potential to do so. I am currently 35-21 (62% win rate) from rank 12 to rank 5. Unlike conventional control priests, C'thun deck allows you to quite consistently play a card each turn so you don't just do nothing and pass your turn. This deck may appear bad to you but trust me, try it and you can see results especially against the current meta.

Before I begin with the mulligan guide, let me just explain why I include/exclude some cards commonly seen in a conventional priest deck. First of all, you will notice Northshire Cleric is missing in this deck. My reason is that this is a tempo deck so you should be controlling the board as much as possible with early & mid-game C'thun minions, so there is no 'need' to keep drawing cards when you can sustain tempo on the board. However, in some matchups, card draws are indeed crucial so if you are uncomfortable with no Northshire Cleric, you can probably swap a Beckoner of Evil for one. 

Wait... what?? Shadow Word: Horror??? Yes! Though people may think it is a 'bad' card, it has proven useful and become a game-changer in some of my games, typically against zoolock/shaman. Most zoolock minions are 2-attack or lower so Shadow Word: Horror can almost empty the zoo board on turn 4, followed by Excavated Evil on turn 5 if need be. Specifically against Imp Gang Boss or a 1- or 2-attack Darkshire Councilman, Shadow Word: Horror is strictly better than Excavated Evil. Many experienced players will play around Excavated Evil while Shadow Word: Horror will be an unpleasant surprise to them. Against Warriors, it can get rid of Armorsmith plus Bloodhoof Brave efficiently. Against tempo Mages, it can get rid of Flamewaker hiding behind two Mirror Images.

Why Forbidden Shaping and no Sylvanas Windrunner? Forbidden Shaping is a very good tempo card which can be used on any turn you run out of minions to play. In aggro matches, Forbidden Shaping helps to stall the game whereas Sylvanas Windrunner may be too slow to change the tide. Don't get me wrong, of course Sylvanas Windrunner is a good card in a control matchup but there is no necessity to run one in this tempo deck. Besides, when you are facing a control player, you can Entomb his Sylvanas Windrunner instead.

Why no Auchenai Soulpriest/ Circle of Healing combo? As I mentioned many times already, this is a more of a tempo rather than control deck so there is no need for that combo. Besides, pulling off that combo is not easy sometimes when you are missing the other card. Shadow Word: Horror and Excavated Evil are good enough to replace the combo for AOE.

How about adding N'Zoth, the Corruptor to this deck? I have thought of it, but if I were to add it, I need to add Sylvanas Windrunner too. And the most appropriate cards to be replaced will be Forbidden Shaping & Cabal Shadow Priest. In a control matchup, yes N'Zoth, the Corruptor is an additional win condition. But looking at the current meta, it is quite tempo/fast-paced in most of the games so Forbidden Shaping will still be my pick. If however, you are facing many control matchups, you may want to implement the change (but even without changing, this deck should beat most control decks).

So what's the win condition of this deck? Quite obviously, C'Thun is the win condition of this deck. Prior to playing C'Thun, you should have already pressured your opponent's health down to about half with your C'thun minions, so C'Thun will finish off your opponent for you. In aggressive matchups (if you survive till turn 10), don't be afraid to use your C'Thun as a board clear to stay alive; you will still be able to win with your C'thun minions as long as you stay alive. In control matchups, you need to know when not to play C'Thun and lose your win condition i.e. it is bad to play it when your Warrior opponent still has 2 Execute unused, or when your Priest opponent still has 2 Entomb unused.

 

IN GENERAL, always mulligan for Doomsayer because the game is all about tempo. Keep 2-drop minions i.e. Beckoner of Evil in your mulligan hand. If I have the coin, I will keep a 3-drop minion too, provided I have at least one other 2-drop.

Best matchup: Shaman (8-2) On top of mulliganing for Doomsayer, you are also looking for Excavated Evil and Shadow Word: Horror as they are so efficient to rid off a Shaman's board. I wouldn't mind keeping Harrison Jones too if I have the coin. It is also reasonable to keep a Shadow Word: Death if you feel more comfortable having a removal in your hand. Shadow Word: Pain is normally saved for removing Thunder Bluff Valiant but when you are behind on tempo or pressed for time, feel free to use it to buy tempo.

Manageable matchup: Mage (4-0) Paladin (2-0) Rogue (2-2) Priest (2-1) Druid (1-1)

Slightly tougher matchup: Hunter (2-2) Warlock (3-8) Against Hunters, you need to curve out nicely and out-tempo them. If I have the coin, I would even keep an Entomb just to deal with Savannah Highmane on turn 6. Why it is tough is because Hunters have many midrange minions which are annoying to deal with as a Priest i.e. Infested Wolf, Houndmaster etc, and each minion they summon requires an answer from the Priest quite urgently. Though this deck is supposed to counter zoolock, many of my games are unfortunate in that if I have a few more Health, the tide will change completely. It is sometimes unpreventable when your opponent just has the burst damage from hand i.e. Leeroy Jenkins + Power Overwhelming (or into Soulfire which does not discard the other Soulfire that finishes you off) If you do able to start off well with Doomsayer on turn 2 and Excavated Evil on turn 5, you are likely to secure the game if your opponent does not have crazy luck on his draws.

Worst matchup: Warrior (11-5) NOT control (this deck should favor you slightly against control Warriors), NOT tempo (this deck should have a fair matchup against tempo Warriors) but the bulk of losses come from matches against Pirate Warriors. So far, I have met 5 Pirate Warriors and only won once. It can be said that Pirate Warrior is the counter to this deck. The reason why Pirate Warriors can beat this deck easily is because their tempo is significantly better (Dread Corsair costs 0, Alexstrasza's Champion & Kor'kron Elite have Charge, weapon goes face) than C'thun Priests, and they just go face. This deck has no taunt minions other than Twin Emperor Vek'lor which you won't be able to live till to play it.

CARD REPLACEMENT:

Forbidden Shaping: This is so good for tempo since you can play it on any turn. If you really don't want to craft it, you can replace it with a midrange minion like Sylvanas Windrunner or Cairne Bloodhoof.

Doomsayer: Please craft it. It is so useful in so many other decks to gain early tempo. It is the card that significantly increases your win chances especially against aggro decks. If you really don't want to craft it, you can replace it with Resurrect or Northshire Cleric.

Shadow Word: Horror: Replace with Holy Nova if you don't have it or really dislike it.

Harrison Jones: Very strong against weapon classes especially Shaman. You can replace it with Acidic Swamp Ooze.

Cabal Shadow Priest: You can replace it with Sylvanas Windrunner, another Forbidden Shaping or just any other midrange minion.

Beckoner of Evil: I run two of these. But you can also consider dropping one for Northshire Cleric for more card draws or another Shadow Word: Pain.

 

IN SUMMARY, this C'thun priest deck is effective against the current meta, especially against Shaman and control matchups but extremely vulnerable to Pirate Warriors. So if you are facing many Pirate Warriors, please don't use this deck. Otherwise, this deck should bring many victories.

Please feel free to post questions if you have any doubts. And enjoy the deck! Please be generous to give this a thumbs up if it helps you! Thank you!! :D